It occured to me today that there is something that may have been overlooked with Andy's early exit, do you think he peaked too early? I mean we are more used to him working himself slowly into tournaments getting used to conditions etc.

Is it possible that after his first match against Eddy Vaseline that he mentally switched off as he thought his game on clay was up to scratch? Even i was taken by surprise by such good form so early on, maybe the same thing happened to him.

Polite way of saying he got complacent ? But I agree I was surprised how well he did in that first match. I was well pleased at the time but like you on reflection perhaps it gave him and us a false impression of where he was at, lets face it Vasaline isn't that good is he ?

It occured to me today that there is something that may have been overlooked with Andy's early exit, do you think he peaked too early? I mean we are more used to him working himself slowly into tournaments getting used to conditions etc.

Is it possible that after his first match against Eddy Vaseline that he mentally switched off as he thought his game on clay was up to scratch? Even i was taken by surprise by such good form so early on, maybe the same thing happened to him.

Some years ago he spoke of that very thing.said he had to learn how to keep going after a win.That the one win was not the whole game.

Complacent is possible, or maybe over confidence he gained in Miami where he often started slowly (as in the final but managed to turn it around), maybe he assumed that he would manage it again here. In fact the more i think about it, the better i feel about him getting beaten so emphatically, this might be the kick in the proverbials he needed.

I think he knew Stan would be a much bigger challenge. I actually wonder if Andy had a little panic because he was hoping to ease his way into his new clay game, and went from an easy victory for his first clay court match of the season to something much more challenging, and he didn't have the chance to play himself into the form he needed, so when things started to go wrong, he couldn't work out how to turn it around.

One of Andy's biggest strengths is that if Plan A isn't working, he has a think about what isn't working and his opponent is doing, and moves onto Plan B, C or D according to what he thinks will work best. Before his opponent knows what's happened, the momentum of the match has changed. I'd argue that's what makes the difference between those slightly lower ranked players who sometimes have very impressive wins that make them look like they should be top 10, yet never quite make it because it all goes wrong in the next round.

What I like about this thread is that it's talking about the clay court season as a whole, and not just one tournament. I get the impression that Andy has been training for the season as a whole, and the MC tournament was being treated as a test and almost a warm-up for the rest of the season. It would have been much better if Andy could have stayed in for longer to get more proper match practice (and points), but with Mr Lendls on standby, Andy wasn't allowed to dwell on that, and the practice with Berdych may be almost as good as a real quarter final against Tsonga. More so maybe, with a bit of court-side coaching.

I think he knew Stan would be a much bigger challenge. I actually wonder if Andy had a little panic because he was hoping to ease his way into his new clay game, and went from an easy victory for his first clay court match of the season to something much more challenging, and he didn't have the chance to play himself into the form he needed, so when things started to go wrong, he couldn't work out how to turn it around.

One of Andy's biggest strengths is that if Plan A isn't working, he has a think about what isn't working and his opponent is doing, and moves onto Plan B, C or D according to what he thinks will work best. Before his opponent knows what's happened, the momentum of the match has changed. I'd argue that's what makes the difference between those slightly lower ranked players who sometimes have very impressive wins that make them look like they should be top 10, yet never quite make it because it all goes wrong in the next round.

What I like about this thread is that it's talking about the clay court season as a whole, and not just one tournament. I get the impression that Andy has been training for the season as a whole, and the MC tournament was being treated as a test and almost a warm-up for the rest of the season. It would have been much better if Andy could have stayed in for longer to get more proper match practice (and points), but with Mr Lendls on standby, Andy wasn't allowed to dwell on that, and the practice with Berdych may be almost as good as a real quarter final against Tsonga. More so maybe, with a bit of court-side coaching.

I agree entirely that Andy would never be complacent against the likes of Stan. There was something else in the mix that day. As ever, your perspective is refreshingly different.

Complacent is possible, or maybe over confidence he gained in Miami where he often started slowly (as in the final but managed to turn it around), maybe he assumed that he would manage it again here. In fact the more i think about it, the better i feel about him getting beaten so emphatically, this might be the kick in the proverbials he needed.

I really don't think Andy is ever complacent or over confident, he was well aware how difficult the match with Stan was going to be, and for whatever reason he couldn't get his range and as he said because he wasn't feeling the ball he kept hitting it short and this allowed Stan to take it on and hit winners.He certainly does not need a kick in the proverbials. Andy is always harder on himself than anyone else. I agree with Sparkle and Fiverings.

The good thing is that Lendl, a clay court star, is there to work with Andy over the coming week. I'm sure he will have diagnosed the weaknesses and they'll be working on them so that Andy does better over the rest of the clay season. Sorry those who voted Andy would win all his clay court tournaments this year (I wasn't one of them!).

I'd just like to say I know that were dissapointed that Andy went out to Stan early in MC,but he did win the masters 1000event in Miami just a couple of weeks before. And remind me who ND lost to early in Miami Hass yes Hass 30plus years old. These things happen. At least Andy's loss was to a younger player, who was playing on his favorite surface. I didn't expect ND to lose to Hass Andy losing to Stan was not so much of a surprise disappointing maybe but not surprising.When I try and put the wins and losses into perspective Novak's loss was far more surprising than Andy's.

It was the performance and the scoreline that were the most disappointing - the loss itself wasn't particularly unexpected.

Unfortunately or maybe not I was out so missed the match, and once I knew Andy had lost decided not to watch the highlights. I've decided to put Andy's loss down to not having played any clay court tournaments.

It was the performance and the scoreline that were the most disappointing - the loss itself wasn't particularly unexpected.

Yeah, I know.. but maybe it was a blessing in disguise if he's got the opportunity to hit with Berdych. The way he looks wearing his match gear for a hit makes me wonder if he's trying to recreate match conditions.